Garment hanger attachment



Sept. 8, 1970 R. R. WHEELER GARMENT HANGER ATTACHMENT 2 Sheets-Sheet 1 Filed April 10, 1968 TAI Irwin/Tonflame w) 1? Nam 52 Sept. 8, 1970 1 R. R. WHEELER 3,527,353

GARMENT HANGER ATTACHMENT Filed April 10, 1968 2 Sheets-$heet 2 IVVZ/VTOKZ' fiqymwo F. WHEELER United States Patent 3,527,358 GARMENT HANGER ATTACHMENT Raymond Ralph Wheeler, 514 Elk Drive, Riverton, Wyo. 82501 Filed Apr. 10, 1968, Ser. No. 727,127 Int. Cl. A47j 51/09 US. Cl. Ell-H9 6 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE The present invention relates to garment hangers, and more particularly to that form of garment hanger which includes an upstanding hook, usually part-circular, by which the hanger may be supported on a structure such as a conventional horizontal hanger rail.

It is well known to users of such garment hangers, and in particular of that common form of garment hanger which is made from stout wire bent to form a pair of shoulders" and a cross-bar to receive the garment, plus a part-circular hook upstanding centrally therefrom, that such hangers readily become tangled by their hook portions, due to twisting movement of the hangers with respect to the axis of the rail on which they are mounted. Moreover, such hangers, when closely assembled on a rail or the like, are difiicult to identify with a particular garment and to separate quickly, and the conventional small thickness of the hanger permits the garments hanging thereon to become pressed up one against another, and thus creased, when many hangers are pushed axially onto the same rail.

It is the object of the present invention to provide an attachment, for garment hangers, which eliminates these and other disadvantages, and which moreover facilitates identification of a hanger, in a manner which will be apparent from the following description.

In order that the nature of the invention may be readily ascertained, two embodiments of garment hanger attachment in accordance therewith are hereinafter particularly described with reference to the figures of the accompanying drawing, wherein:

FIG. 1 is a perspective side view of a first embodiment of the attachment;

FIG. 2 is a side elevation of the attachment shown mounted on the hook of a garment hanger;

FIG. 3 is an end elevation of the attachment, to show the manner of insertion of the garment hanger hook into the attachment;

FIG. 4 is a plan view of the attachment mounted on the hook;

FIG. 5 is an underplan view of the attachment mounted on the hook, the latter being seen in section;

FIG. 6 is a transverse section of the attachment, mounted on the hook, to illustrate the manner of a butment of the attachment on a rail for garment hangers;

FIG. 7 is a perspective view to show a second embodiment including a liner for the attachment;

FIG. 8 is a perspective view of a liner;

FIG. 9 is a section, to a much enlarged scale, of a lug on a liner;

FIG. 10 is a partial elevation and partial section to ice show the manner of engagement of a liner onto a non circular rail;

FIG. 11 is a side elevation to show the manner of engagement of a rectangular hook with the attachment.

With reference particularly to FIG. 1 of the accompanying drawing, the attachment is a solid onepiece body made of, for example, metal or a suitable rigid but resilient synthetic resinous plastics material such as polystyrene, and includes an arcuate bridge structure 1 terminating at each end in a respective lug 2. Above the bridge structure 1 there is provided a cover portion 3 which is joined at its respective ends to the outer end of the two lugs 2. The cover portion 3 is generally spaced above the bridge structure 1, but centrally the cover portion is dipped, as at 4, so as to abut against the top surface of the bridge structure 1, and is provided at the dipped area with a longitudinal rib ridge which appears at the underside of the cover portion as a recess in the form of an inverted trough 6.

Alternatively the cover portion may be slotted centrally instead of having the inverted recess 6 to receive the hook.

in each of the lugs 2 there is formed a hole 7, and the edge of each hole, at the underside of the lug, is chamfered or bevelled. These spaced holes receive the hook, in a manner described below.

The bridge structure 1 is part-cylindrical or approximately part-cylindrical in shape, and its radius of curvature is made so that, with or Without resilient deformation, it will embrace closely a garment hanger rail 8 on which it is engaged, so that the ends 9 of the bridge structure bear against the rail.

The attachment is intended for use with a garment hanger of any convenient form which includes a hook suitable for the purpose. The garment hanger hook itself does not form part of the invention, and it is sufficient for the purposes of this specification to indicate that the attachment is intended to be used in conjunction with a garment hanger having a hook along and within the concavity of which the bridge structure may lie, so as to be positioned between the hook and a rail, and contact the rail by its undersurface 1a.

For the purpose of showing the manner of use of the attachment, it is illustrated in FIGS. 2 to 6 of this drawing as assembled with the hook 10 of a very common conventional form of twisted metal wire garment hanger. The hook 10 will be seen to consist of a semi-circular portion terminating in a straight end 11.

To mount the attachment firmly on the hook 10 of the hanger, the tip of the end 11 is inserted through the hole 7 in one of the lugs 2, this being facilitated by the chamfering or bevelling of the underside edge of the hole. This starting position of the hook is shown in broken line in FIG. 3. The hook is then brought into longitudinal alignment with the attachment, and is rotated about the axis of curvature of the bridge structure 1 until the tip of the end 11 can be engaged through the hole 7 of the other lug of the attachment. During this movement of the end of the hook through the attachment, the hook is forced between the inner part-cylindrical surface of the bridge structure 1, and the opposed inner face of the trough 6. Due to the elongated nature of the trough 6, its walls tend to seat firmly against the hook 10, by reason of the natural resilience of the material urging the cover portion towards the bridge structure. The trough walls abut against the hook over an arcuate length which may, in practice, be of the order of one-quarter to one-half of an inch, whereby the cover and bridge structure efiectively lock the attachment resiliently to the hook against any relative displacement laterally of the hook, i.e. parallel to the axis of curvature.

Referring to FIG. 6, it will be seen that the undersurface 1a of the bridge structure 1 is of greater width than the hook and lies along and in contact with the rail 8 over a length X which is the whole width of the bridge structure, and provides at its edges :lb two axiallyspaced points of contact. This results in a tendency for the attachment, and thus the garment hanger rigidly engaged therewith, to seat squarely on the rail without any lateral tilting, and this effect is assisted by any additional weight of a garment supported on the hanger.

Similarly, by making the undersurface of the bridge structure 1 of the same diameter as the rail 8, or preferably of a slightly smaller diameter so as to be caused to deform or spread slightly when the attachment is engaged on the rail, e.g. as a result of the weight of the hanger and a garment thereon, there is obtained a tight mating conformation of the bridge structure onto the rail which tends to keep to attachment very firmly in precise symmetrical position on the rail, without risk of swinging or lateral tilting. Accordingly, the following conditions occur when a number of garment hangers, provided with the attachment, are mounted side by side on a common rail. If the attachments are so closely positioned that they abut by the side edges of their respective bridge structures and cover portions, they are all constrained to lie, and to remain lying, parallel to each other, and with their central longitudinal planes normal to the axis of the rail. If, on the other hand, the attachments are spaced each from the next along the axis of the rail, they nevertheless still tend to remain in parallel position, due to the self-aligning action referred to precedingly. Accordingly, there is no tendency, whether they abut laterally or not, for the hooks of the respective hangers to become tangled with each other in a manner which will be well known to users of the conventional hanger per se.

The lateral width of the attachment, i.e. the dimension L shown in FIG. 6, ensures that the hooks of adjacent garment hangers will always be separated, along the axial direction of the rail 8, by at least the dimension L, so that garments hanging on the respective hangers will be relieved of pressure which might otherwise be exerted on them when a large number of hangers are mounted on a common rail and are shifted axially of the rail. It will be appreciated that the lateral width of the attachment could be up to very much greater or somewhat smaller, in proportion, than has been shown in this drawing, without affecting its operation in any way.

Due to the attachments always tending to remain properly aligned with respect to the rail, and not become entangled one with another or mounted one upon another, the hangers remain readily accessible to and manipulated by hand, and readily identified as appertaining to a particular garment of the row of garments. Moreover, the attachments may be made with visual differences to aid recognition and differentiation, for example different colours, different sizes, different names or numbers incorporated in or on them, or any combination of these features.

As the attachment is made of a relatively resilient or even springly material, it may readily be made to conform, within limits, to the shaping of the hook with which it is to be engaged. Accordingly, if it is desired to use the same form of attachment with rails 8 of different diameters, it is only necessary to bend the hook of the hanger to a suitably similar or near radius, and the attachment engaged with the hook will likewise then conform closely to the periphery of the rail.

The attachment is illustrated as being a one-piece article of stiff but resiliently deformable material of continuous closed-loop formation. This would conveniently be formed by moulding of a plastics material, or by deformation of tubular metal stock. It is not essential that the attachment be in the form of a closed loop, and it could have a simple gap, or butted ends, or ends secured in any convenient manner, e.g. with a tongue and slot formation.

Particularly where the attachment is made as a plastics moulding or as a metal article, names, numbers and other identifying means may readily be provided on the outer surface of the cover portion 3, at one or both ends, thereby facilitating very rapid identification, which is of especial use in garment check rooms and other public accommodation, the garments being positioned as closely as is permitted by the width of the attachments, rather than at predetermined spaced positions along the length of the rail.

The attachment has been illustrated and described in its use in relation to a conventional circular-section rail 8, but it is not limited to such use and could be used with rails of other polygonal cross-section by, if need be, modification of the shaping of at least the undersurface of the bridge structure 1 or of the entire bridge structure 1 as the case may be.

Referring to FIGS. 7 and 10 there is seen a second embodiment in which the central part of the cover portion 3a is slotted at 12 to receive the hook It) in the manner which will be clear from FIG. 10.

The bridge structure includes a bridge portion 112 having two opposed pairs of holes 13 into which there can be engaged, as a snap fit, respective resilient headed lugs 14 (see FIG. 9) provided on an internal linear 15 also forming part of the bridge structure and which seats within the bridge portion 1b to engage onto the rail, and which is of greater width than the bridge portion so as to embrace the rail for some distance beyond each side of the bridge portion. According to the amount of width required, liners 15, 15a or 15b of different widths may be interchangeably engaged with the attachment.

Where it is desired that the attachment shall engage closel wih a rail of non-circular shape, a liner having the appropriate non-circular internal shaping may be engaged with the bridge portion by means of the lubs 14, e.g. the liner 15d may have the flatted circular section seen in FIG. 10; to correspond to the rail 8a, or a rectangular, hexagonal, oval or any other suitably shaped section to conform to a rail. Accordingly, a single form of attachment may be manufactured, and a suitably formed liner inserted to conform to the particular rail on which it is to be used, rather than re-designing the attachment for each type of rail.

Further, the liner can itself be made of relatively light construction, so as to be readily able to spring into close conformation to the rail section, whereas the attachment itself may be somewhat stiffer and more rugged.

FIG. 8 shows that the corners 16 of the liner may be rounded to avoid damage to garments or injury to the user.

FIG. 11 shows how the attachment may also serve for the positioning of a rectangular hook on a round rail.

As a single form of production of the attachment may be made to engage with hanger hooks of varied widths and diameters, within limits, production may be in relaitively large numbers and the cost may be kept relatively The attachment may be made with a pleasing and colourful appearance and will both prevent tangles, which have hitherto often resulted in soiling of garments due to dropping on the floor, and keeps the hangers facing squarely end-on to the user. By suitable choice of the width dimension of the attachment or of its liner, it may be made substantially impossible to mount one attachment inadvertently upon another on the rai I claim:

1. An attachment for fitting to the suspension hook of a garment hanger, comprising a resilient body including a bridge structure and a cover portion urged towards each other by resilience of the body structure for resiliently gripping a garment hanger hook engaged with said body structure, said bridge structure being adapted to lie along and within the concavity of the hook so as to be positioned between the hook and a supporting rail and having an undersurface by which it may contact the rail, said undersurface being of greater width than the hook considered in the axial direction of the hook concavity so as to provide two axially spaced points of bearing against the rail and being concave so as to embrace the rail, said body structure further including a lug at each end of the bridge structure joining to the respective ends of the cover portion, each said lug including an aperture to receive the hook of the garment hanger.

2. An attachment, as claimed in claim 1 made as a one-piece moulding of still but resilient plastics material.

3. An attachment, for fitting to the suspension book of a garment hanger, comprising a body structure including a bridge structure to lie along and within the concavity of the hook so as to be positioned between the hook and a supporting rail, said bridge structure including a bridge portion and a separable liner positioned within said bridge portion for abutment with the rail, and means retaining said liner on the attachment, said liner having an undersurface by which it may contact the rail, said undersurface being of greater width than the hook considered in the axial direction of the hook concavity so as to provide two axially-spaced points of bearing against the rail and being concave so as to embrace the rail, and means on said body structure for firm engagement of a garment hanger hook with said body structure.

4. An attachment, as claimed in claim 3, wherein the liner extends laterally beyond the bridge portion at both sides.

5. An attachment as claimed in claim 3, wherein the undersurface of the bridge portion is part circular, and wherein the undersurface of the liner is non-circular to conform to a non-circular rail.

6. An attachment, as claimed in claim 3, wherein the retaining means consist of resiliently deformable headed lugs provided on the liner to engage in holes in the bridge portion.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,989,191 6/1961 Eason 2111l3 3,024,953 3/ 1962 OKeefe.

3,112,050 11/1963 Eason.

ROY D. FRAZIER, Primary Examiner US. Cl. X.R. 223-; 248--36O 

